Welcome

Hello, and welcome to the next step in my post-military globe-trotting. Many of you followed my first blog (tonyrides.com) as I traveled the United States on my Motorcycle, riding over 18,000 miles and reaching 49 states and three countries.

In this next installment, my friend Jerod and I will be going abroad for an open-ended jaunt. We will start in the Middle-East at the end of February and see where the roads and the winds take us.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Holy City (doesn't require boots)

Hello from Jerusalem. Jerod and I successfully navigated the bus system to arrive in Jerusalem before things started to close down before Shabbat. My friend Kristiana met us at the bust station and we made the hike back to her place. A nice restful afternoon led to a nice Shabbat dinner prepared by Kristiana's Israeli roommate Ouriel. Afterwords we sat around talking and drinking wine until bed time.

Today, after a delicious breakfast (again prepared by Ouriel) we set out for the old city of Jerusalem. We knew the Jewish quarter would be mostly abandoned, but the Arab, Armenian, and Christian quarters were all bustling with market activity. We passed the Jaffa gate and Damascus Gate as well as few of the stations of the cross. After wandering through the twisting labyrinth of streets we arrived at a security checkpoint to enter the plaza with the Kotel (Wailing Wall/Western Wall). We decided not to spend too much time there today, but we will return after Shabbat and take some photos and try to arrange to tour the tunnels leading under the Kotel. A long walk brought us back to Kristiana's a few minutes ago, and we will probably grab some dinner soon. Tomorrow will probably take us to a few more spots in the old city, back to the wall, and maybe some of Ben Yehuda street and Zion Square.

2 comments:

Glad to hear from you and reading the posts as they come in. Here in Northern California eating sprouts and drinking soy milk. Went cycling with Chuck ..into Sausalito and Tiburon. Not the wailing wall but beautiful. Heading to Monica's tomorrow. Stay well. Praying for boots.xoxo,Dad